Mazz Madness!: Miles- 25 & 26 Months

Milestones
- Turned his car seat facing forward
- Went on 3rd airplane ride
- Sharing is getting more challenging
- Tells Mal no no when she does something he doesn't like
- Started riding on the back of our bikes
- LOVES swimming
- Says "Gig'em Aggies" and puts his fist up
- Miles is not so gentle with the animals anymore- tough love!
- Says "No I do it" whenever I try to help him with something
- Has started showing SOME interest in TV- in particular Micky Mouse Clubhouse
- Puts at least 5 word sentences together

Eating
Miles loves ice, candy and chips- period! He is a tricky fellow to get nutrition into. Maybe 3 meals a week will knock it out of the park with multiple fish sticks or chicken nuggets but otherwise we just a grazer. Luckily he loves yogurt drinks- so we do get him to drink at least one of those a day. He also has a very very sensitive gag reflex and if you make him try something he doesn't want to eat he will stick his fingers down his throat and make himself throw up almost on command- charming right? The past couple months we have discovered the wonderful world of Dum-Dum suckers (for a little bribery) and popsicles- what wonderful things! We have also gotten in the bad habit of everynight when we are laying in bed and they are drinking their milk Miles asks for crackers (which also sounds like tractor) so then we sleep in a bed full of crumbs.

Sleeping
We have been on summer sleeping schedule! The kids down down to bed around 10:00 pm and don't wake up till 9:30 or 10:00. Miles wins the sleeping award this summer too with sleeping through the night 99% of the time! The funniest thing that has come about recently is Miles likes to take a million toys with him to bed everynight- we are talking 10 trains, 2 babydolls, multiple trucks, an airplane and his blanket. A couple of mornings we have gone in their to check on him sleeping and he has all of his toys lined up and is playing with them in his crib. He still naps for around 2 hours usually around 1:00pm. He has a tendency to fuss a little after we lay him down for nap but after crying for a little bit he settles down. They have the sweetest routine of giving each other a big hug before they go down for nap time and it is precious because half of the time they make each other fall down :) We are really lucky that no one has tried to jump out of their crib so they can both still stay in their crib! Nighttime is still big one family laying in our bed - drinking milk out of sippy cups, reading books, then watching an episode of Mickey Mouse. After one episode we then turn it to something we like to watch so they get bored and go to bed- we are terrible parents and watch Big Brother and he kids have started calling it 'Boy'- so as soon as Mickey Mouse is over they say "Watch Boy" haha! 2 nights out of the week they start getting delirious and they just start jumping around our bed and playing ring around the rosie. That is when we know they are beyond tired and Jeff goes and lays them down.

Playtime
I truly feel like their aren't enough hours in the day to play with these kids- because they are SO fun!! I don't want to do anything else all day long but play with them!! Miles in particular is SO fun to take to the pool this summer. He has no fear when it comes to the pool and jumps off the side again and again and Jeff lets him go underwater everytime and he LOVES it! Once he comes up from the water he just says 'Again,Again.' He also loves to float on his stomach as we drag him along in the pool and he kicks his little feet. He also loves the feeling of floating on his back! He is a sad camper everytime we leave the pool. Miles however is completely against wearing floaties- so we will be working on that next summer :) We also got a pool for our back yard that Miles has a great time in! It has a slide on it and for hours upon hours he will go down the slide and when he lands in the pool he doesn't mind if he goes under water- it is awesome! We just recently put seats for them on the back of our bikes and we have been going on nightly bike rides. The kids love it except for the first 5 minutes where we have to convince them to wear their bike helmets. Luckily Mallory normally caves in pretty quick and Miles then follows suit :) Miles little personality is taking off! My new favorite thing he does is say "My blank" If I touch his booty he says "My booty," if Mallory sits in my lap he comes push her out of the way and says "My mommy." He also confuses the work you and me often. So all day I hear "Hold You" when he infact means "Hold Me," melts my heart! He also got a train set for his birthday which we have spent many hours on :) He puts together the longest train he possibly can and then tries to keep all the pieces together has they go along the track. However I also have a little chef on my hands because Mallory got a kitchen and he is just as excited about cooking in the kitchen too! Every morning they make me quite a delux breakfast and bring me coffee, water, tea, and orange juice :) Miles has really started enjoying coloring/drawing now too! Everyday we get out lots of paper and crayons and color. He really likes though when he 'accidently' colors on the floor and he gets to clean it up. He is my little Jeff in every form and fashion. He goes behind me closing doors I leave open, putting my clothes on the floor in the hamper, throwing my trash away, and getting EXTREMELY upset if something spills and makes a mess! My NEW favorite thing that he does is he gives me the run down of what they did for the day when I come home from work. Miles runs up to me and gives me a hug and then starts telling me about his day with Daddy- he usually says "Gym, play with boy, store, and cookie" which means they went to Jeff's gym and played in the kids club with a boy then they went to the grocery store and got a cookie :) The excitement on his face while he is telling me what he did during the day is priceless! Miles please don't ever grow up and not want to spend time 24 hours a day with your mommy and daddy :)